1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a linear guideway with damping means, and more particularly, to a linear guiding mechanism for guiding linear movement for mechanisms such as machinery, electronics, automation and semiconductor equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the highly developed world where industrial automation is emphasized, problems caused by mechanical vibrations are existed in every industry. The precision of machinery in processing, the surface roughness of the working parts and the lifetime of components are all related to mechanical vibrations. Therefore, it has become an important objective to reduce vibrations in mechanical systems.
Linear guiding mechanisms are commonly applied to many kinds of machinery and equipment, linear guide is one of them, please refer to FIG. 6 for the traditional vibration absorption design of linear guide. A guide rail 10 of linear guide is installed on the working base with two slider modules 20 and a damping slider 30 supported on guide rail 10, wherein the damping slider 30 is placed between the two slider modules 20; the slider modules 20 having roller balls 22 placed in the grooves between a slider body 21 and the guide rail 10 for rolling, then the linear guide can move linearly. The damping slider 30 comprising a shell 31 and dampers 32, wherein the shell can be fixed to the working base, and the two dampers 32 are in contact with the lateral side of the guide rail 10 to absorb vibration. In general, the working part is fixed to the working base, while the working base is fixed to the slider module 20 and the damping slider 30 to move linearly. When there's vibration from the equipment arriving at the guide rail 10, the dampers 32 on both sides of the damping slider 30 on the guide rail 10 absorb the vibration to provide damping effect.
Since the traditional linear guide uses at least one damping sliders to absorb vibration, the extra damping slider parts will increase cost; besides, extra parts need certain space, which decreases the stroke or introduces extra length to the guide rail, presenting big limitations to the implementation of micro mechanical or precision mechanical systems, therefore, further improvement is desired.